Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-11-17
SUCCESS IN LIFE.

| Seeking Success for It's Own Sake an OBJ
ject Unworthy Of Christians.
Nothing succeeds like success" is :
! popular verse in the modern book OF
proverbs. 1t is regarded by many a.
cont aiming a truth almost automatic.
The young man is told to do something
that will convince the world that he
has in him the elements of Success, and
he will gain confidence in himself and
inspire confidence in others. Only
make brilliant beginning. and the
rest will be easy. Win a great victory.
and you will be hailed as a conquerer.
and can march on in triumph.
In this there is some truth-iust
enough to sugar-coat a dangerous
error. Success is often the highway to
disls and ruin. The first Napoleon
WAS one of the most successful men
of his or any other are. As Coun-
sclor Phillips SAID: with no friend
but his sword and no fortune but his
talents. he entered the lists where rank
and wealth and genius had arrayed
themselves. and competition fled from
him as from the glance of destiny"
But how vain. how proud. how self
confident his early success made him!
Memoirs of his private life, recently
publ hed. show that he was one of the
meanest and most miserable of mon.
And when he fell. as such climbers
must sooner or later. how great his
fall! He will take his place in history
rs the most conspicuous failure of
modern times. When we think of
what Napoleon might have been and
might have done if he had not been
Intoxicated by success. we mourn over
the weakness of our human nature.
The brain reels when we go up into
the clouds even little way.
Ferdinand Ward might have been a
respectable and fairly prosperous bus
mess man if he had not made such Il
brilliant beginning ir Wall street. For
time he seemed to succeed by sue
cess. H. won his way by sheer au-
iacity. What he did inspired conf
lencc which enabled him to do other
things which. without such confidence.
would have been impossible. But
brilliancy like his is always meteOric.
Temporary success is followed by a
sad and hopeless reaction. Even if
that young man could be released from
prison. he could accomplish nothing
now. He went up like a rocket and
came down like the stick.
Gabriel Grimes was the most elo-
quent Of our young preachers forty
years ago. Before he left the semi
nary he captivuted one of the best con-
gregations in an Eastern city.
His success there soon Sc
cured him call to q Metro
politan church. But his rise was so
rapid that he became dizzy. He was
like the man who went up in balloon
but could not control it. That brilliant
Dung preacher has been a sad wreck,
both intellectually and morally. for the
ifetime of a generation. When meet
him with his haggard face l think
there are few things moro perilous
in this world than success
There is a sense in which success sue
ceeds. All progress is by successive
steps. and the more we are able to take
IT those steps the nearer we are to the
goal. The man who by patient in
dustry has accomplished something of
value to the world. will be more likely
to do another and better thing than
If his first attempt had been a failure.
But the world does not apply its favor
lite proverb to the plodders 1t
means that he who makes .
grand strike shows thereby that
he is . lucky man, that he was
born under fortunate star. and will
be likely to win wealth and fame.
This idea is atheistic. II there is
just and holy God who governs the
world, He can not have special favor
iteA He must treat his creatures im-
partially. He will not heap up His
good gifts upon a few, but distrikate
them to all. Hence. the inference
should b that whoever u specially